From Within the Trees
by Starshot151
Summary: Jen watches as her brothers are killed at the hands of a mysterious figure wearing a suit, she flees for her life into a forest. As she finds her hiding place, she notices a pair of long, skinny legs walk past her spot. She knows that it knows she's there. But will it find her, and if it does, what will it do? My first Slenderman fanfic.
1. Chapter 1: A Hiding Place

Jen ran for her very life through the forest, her lungs contracting, cramping as she sprinted endlessly. The chilled night air was burning her nose and throat, but she did not care for such trivial matters now. Her chestnut brown hair whipped past the foliage and stuck to the sweat on her face. The girl was barely seventeen, with reddened blue eyes which stung from the wind rushing past her. All that she could focus on was, running.

Run.

For her life.

_For her sanity._

Her eyes teared up once again from seeing her brothers' blood sprayed all over the walls of her living room, tiny dots of blood flicked all over the lounges, the carpets, Jen's clothes. All she could make out of their killer was that he was unnaturally tall and was wearing a suit. Tripping over roots sticking out like thorns on the forest trail, her ankles constantly twisted, each time screaming out in pain louder and louder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hollowed out nook at the bottom of a large pine tree covered by a shrub. She dived straight into the nook and curled herself up into a ball, hoping that this was all a dream. That it was going to fade away as she woke up and continued on with her life.

She stayed in that nook for hours, until she heard someone's footsteps snapping twigs and branches outside.

_Snap. Crack._

Her breathing froze, palms sweating and heart racing faster than ever before, feeling light headed as she waited in suspense. Her muscles were frozen into place as she waited for the figure to pass by her unnoticed. She moved around ever so slightly to try and stop the stick from poking into her back. While doing so, dust started to fall from the tops of the hole from the movement disturbing its resting place, sprinkling itself over Jen's face. Her nose started to itch, but she tried her very hardest to stop herself from giving away her hiding place. The figure kept walking slowly towards the nook, hopefully past the nook.

_Achoo!_

The figure came to a halt.

It's spindly legs, almost like long twigs themselves, came striding over towards Jen's tiny hiding place. Jen started to hyperventilate._ It's coming, _she repeated in her head, her heartbeat getting faster. This creature could sense fear. _  
_

The legs stopped right outside the shrub, motionless, they started to bend down into a crouch. Jen sees long, rake-like hands grasp the leaves and pull them back like curtains revealing the terrified show on the other side. The moonlight barely sheds light onto this figure. Jen's mouth opens yet no sound emits from it, her eyes widen, and sees one thing that fills her heart with pure fear.

He has no face.


	2. Chapter 2: Eleven Feet Tall

_The Slenderman._ Jen realised.

He continued to stare at the curled up human inside the tree, waiting for any movement, no matter how miniscule it may be. He stretched one of his limbs out to her, holding out his hand, offering to help her out of the hole. Jen stayed frozen to her place, too scared to move. She was cornered.

"_Lost?" _He asked in a suspiciously polite manner.

Jen was awestruck. Her mind was racing faster and faster, thoughts that flew through her head as she stared at the entity in front of her. Was he really helping her up? Or was he about to impale her and join her brothers?

He tilted his head curiously.

"_Are you lost, human?"_

No answer.

"_Answer me!" _He spat impatiently.

His icy voice sent a thousand shivers down her spine. She gulped and finally took a breath in to answer. When Jen truly thought about where she was, she realised that she really was lost after running so blindly.

"Yes." Jen stammered.

Slenderman appeared to be smirking despite having no mouth. Staring straight into the face – if he had one – of death, Jen shakily took his hand, bracing herself for the excruciating pain of being torn apart at the hands and tendrils of Slenderman. Immediately regretting her decision, she felt herself being lifted higher and higher. Looking down at her bruised body, she was horrified to find tendrils constricting her. Slenderman cautiously arose from his crouched position, lifting Jen to meet his eye level at eleven feet off the ground.

"_You are a brave one accepting my...assistance, human. It wouldn't have been fun to kill you while you were in that rotting trunk, now wouldn't it?"_

Caught in the slithering tendrils of this monster, Jen suddenly felt a surge of courage rise through herself. Inhaling what might be her last breath, she spat in Slenderman's blank face.

"_DISGUSTING!" _He exclaimed as he withdrew his tendrils and left Jen to fall. The impact knocked all the air out of her lungs, but it wasn't long before she was hurled up into the air again, with a mass of tendrils drilling towards her throat.

"_How DARE you, you insolent, disrespectful scum!"_

Suddenly, Slenderman stopped in his tracks, tendrils still ablaze. His blank face seemed to light up with curiosity. He carefully set Jen down, her knees shaking and about to give way, and crossed his arms.

"_I will confess something human. I have ripped apart the fleshy bodies of countless human children. Yet I wonder," _he looks at Jen with a playful expression etched out on the blank canvas where a face should lay.

"_Why do humans come looking for something that can kill you in seconds? Why does the prey stand up to the predator, only to have themselves ripped apart while their last breath is being used on their screams? There must be more to their motives than curiosity."_

Jen stopped. She gulped once again, her knees still shaking as she tried to keep her confidence up. Slenderman's tendrils were whipping wildly behind him, itching for a response from his prey. Jen took in a choked breath.

"A thirst for power." Jen hesitantly responded. "Think long and hard about this. Over the years, humans have always been slaughtering each other whether it be in war or a stabbing on the streets. The rush of adrenaline they feel when they see the blood spilled. Humans are constantly in competition with each other. Wanting to overcome one another. When a more powerful being threatens their standing, their position and even their existence, they would want to get rid of the threat as soon as possible. If someone came into the forest wanting to hunt you down, you'd want to...dispose of them because they're a threat to you, right?"

Slenderman suddenly looked inquisitive. He bent over to meet Jen's eye level, yet she remained standing confident.

"_Well, aren't you confident. You seem to know quite a bit about the mind of a killer. Interesting. Yet I do not need to fear of someone usurping my position. No human can kill me or find me, or attempt to before I find them first. You may live, but I cannot guarantee for how much longer that may be. I'll be watching you, expect me, human."_

Slenderman unravelled his tendrils and gradually put Jen under a trance. She felt her eyes grow heavy, and soon collapsed on the forest floor, the last sight she saw was Slenderman towering over her, leaning down to pick her up with his spindly hands.


	3. Chapter 3: Amnesia

The crust from Jen's eyes were sticking her eyelashes together as she woke up. She wasn't on the forest floor. She could hear a radio buzzing from downstairs.

_Gruesome murder...two boys...seven and ten years...older sister missing...feared dead...police are investigating..._

Swiftly, Jen sat up...in her own bed! Her eyes widened with surprise and shock, as she discovered her room was covered with police tape. She carefully avoided it and ventured downstairs, to find a horde of policemen looking for evidence. The stairs creaked loudly, attracting their attention. She was then surrounded by flustered policemen, then dragging her into a small room for questioning. To Jen's surprise, she could not remember the events that happened that night. The only thing she could remember was watching her brothers be mutilated. She could not recall after she left the house. After leaving the room after three hours of questions, she felt dazed and realised, she was hungry.

Jen slouched over to the kitchen, avoiding the tape and evidence, unaffected by the blood splattered all over the walls. She opened up the fridge to find a peanut butter sandwich hastily made for her. On top of the sandwich lay a folded up note. A circle with a cross drawn through the middle was roughly sketched. This sparked Jen's memory, but didn't help in recalling what had happened last night.

Disregarding the note, she sat down at the table and began to shove the sandwich into her mouth, not realising just how hungry she was. The radio still buzzed in her ear.

_On the 7__th__ of March at 22:37pm, two boys aged seven and ten were found in their homes gruesomely murdered. The older sister has been found in her room and seems to be suffering from amnesia. The ki...still un...police are..._

The radio started to malfunction as obnoxious static started to emit from the radio speakers. Annoyed, Jen whacked the radio in an attempt to fix it. Unsuccessful, she was confronted by a policeman. He had contacted one of her relatives, Jen's parents went missing on a hike two years ago and had been left to take care of her former brothers. She was to stay with her distant aunt Lily. a relative whom Jen never saw as she was always working and had no time for family matters.

When Jen arrived at the run down apartment Lily lives in, she was greeted to an empty apartment with a note explaining Lily's absence. After the police were out of sight, Jen decided she would take a walk in the local forest to clear her mind.

The light danced on the dew on the leaves as Jen trudged on the trail. This trail looked awfully familiar, then she saw it.

A hollowed out nook covered by a shrub.

Everything became clear.

"_Remember me now, do you?" _said a chilling voice coming from behind, no, above Jen.

Jen looked up to see Slenderman bending over her, casting a shadow on the trail, and on her mind.


	4. Chapter 4: The Executioner

Jen opened her mouth to scream, yet she emitted no sound. Slenderman wore an amused expression as Jen tumbled to the ground and started to push herself away, trying to stand up to run. A tendril agilely pressed itself against Jen's back, stopping all movement.

"_I guess you didn't remember everything that happened."_

Jen looked puzzled. Everything?

"_I recall myself saying that I would let you live, remember, human?"_

Jen's face relaxed a little. Once again, Slenderman crouched down from his towering height to offer her up off the forest floor. She willingly accepted his offer and dusted all the dirt and leaves off her clothes. Before Slenderman could stand up again, Jen waited until he was right at her eye level, and she struck him across the...face.

Slenderman looked appalled as he touched his cheek where Jen had struck him.

"_I offer you my hospitality, and let you live, and this is how you-"_

"WHY DID YOU KILL MY BROTHERS?!" Jen screamed.

An ominous silence hung over the two as Slenderman grew confused.

"_I do not know what you are talking about. I did not kill your brothers."_

"BUT I SAW YOU INSIDE MY HOUSE LOOKING AT THEIR BODIES!"

Slenderman took a step back with his lengthy legs before preparing to answer.

"_The killer simply had arrived at your house before I did."_

Jen's face transformed from rage to a calming expression mixed with shock. If Slenderman didn't kill her brothers, then who did?

"_You didn't notice when I escorted you to your house, and when you arose from your sleep this morning and went downstairs, there were samples of evidence? If I had taken care of your brothers, there would be no evidence left behind at all. Not even a fingerprint. Also, if it were me, your brothers' bodies would have been more mutilated than what you and I found them in."_

Slenderman did have a point.

"_Return home, human. I will be watching."_

Jen turned on her heel and sprinted back to Lily's apartment, still empty. She flopped onto the lounge and switched on the TV, only to see a news broadcast of her brothers' killing. The TV signal started to blur and static started to appear. A circle with a cross drawn through it was displayed on the screen while static was flickering in all corners.

_FEAR ME. EXPECT ME. FOR I AM THE SLENDERMAN, SLAUGHTERER OF CHILDREN. I SPARE NO TARGETS AND SPARE NO SOULS. I AM THE JUDGE AND EXECUTIONER OF THIS CRUEL AND TWISTED WORLD._

The voice was scrambled.

Jen stared fixed at the TV, horrified. The TV started to malfunction even more.

"_Now that isn't right_." complained Slenderman from the back corner of the apartment, shrunken down to an almost normal height, and proceeded to accompany Jen on the lounge.


	5. Chapter 5: Late Night Visit

Slenderman's endless legs strided over to the worn out lounge where Jen jumped ten feet in the air.

"JESUS CHRIST! Mind if you give me some warning when you pop around for a visit?" she exclaimed.

A dark chuckle arose from Slenderman's throat.

"_But I did. I said I would be watching."_

Jen threw Slenderman an annoyed look before she turned. Back to the broadcast. She invited Slenderman to sit, since he would be around for quite some time. Jen looked away to check the time. 11:29pm. When she turned back to the entity sitting next to her, she discovered that he was looking quite comfortable, fingers interlaced between his hands, with his elbows resting on crossed legs which almost reached the TV.

_YOU SHALL NEVER FIND ME. OR YOUR INTESTINES WILL BE SKEWED ALL OVER YOUR HOUSE AS I DID TO TWO JUICY LOOKING BOYS TO TRIED TO STAND AGAINST ME. FEAR ME. LOVE ME. EXPECT ME. FOR I AM-_

Jen quickly turned off the TV and cupped her mouth with her hands. Her eyes were wider than ever, the irises isolated within a sea of white, slowly filling up with tears.

"_I assume you found your killer."_

Jen felt a hand on her shoulder. She was surprised to find Slenderman attempting to…comfort her?

"_Don't get the wrong idea, human. If I want you to stay alive, I wouldn't appreciate killing yourself from the insanity, now would I? I'm merely keeping you alive because there is more to learn about humans than I thought. I want to know more about what you fear. I thought of this after my last kill, and you happened to show up a month later. You're lucky I remembered this before I tore you apart. And you happen to be the human I am keeping alive to observe. And as for my impostor…'_

Jen felt Slenderman's grip on her shoulder grow stronger. The fingers digging into her skin started to pierce through the fabric of her shirt and through the skin of her shoulder, drawing blood. A small squeak of pain caused Slenderman to realise how strong his grip was and he released his hand. He pulled down Jen's shirt to reveal the wound and bent down to lick the blood dripping down her chest. Jen shivered with fear and the tickling slither of the tongue caused the hairs on her to stand up. She looked down at the wound. She was astounded to find that it had stopped bleeding.

"_My apologies."_

Jen nodded to show she forgave him.

There was a loud knocking on the door.

"Jen? It's aunt Lily! I'm finally home!"


	6. Chapter 6: Found

**This chapter was lots of fun to write, enjoy! ^^**

Jen and Slenderman both snapped their necks to face the front door. Jen hissed at him to go before she could unlock the door.

"_You underestimate my stealth. But I will go. I have a feeling we will meet again in the near future."_

In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

The lock clicked as aunt Lily came stumbling in with her luggage, which she immediately dropped and locked Jen into a rib-crushing hug. All that Jen could hear was the sound of Lily blubbering with tears rolling down her face. Lily's blonde bob ticked Jen's nose. With all her strength, Jen pushed her emotional mess of an aunt off her and allowed herself to breathe. After consoling Lily, Jen decided she would help out around the house by doing some of her groceries. After asking Lily what she needed for the next few days of settling, Jen scribbled down a rough list of items and started her walk down to the local 7/11. Along the way, she could feel someone watching her along her way. She dismissed it as the Slenderman observing her movements.

The feeling didn't pass over her. She still couldn't see the glowing seven, which started to worry her. Jen could still feel that same being watching her, but she soon realised, it didn't feel like the gaze of the Slenderman. No, it was different. She turned around to find a person with a white, blank face and a suit standing in the shrubs on the side of the road. Jen was truly paralysed to her spot when she saw the figure walking towards her – no, jogging – no, running! Yet right before the figure was about to collide with Jen, he slowed down and stopped.

He was far shorter than Slenderman, and it was clear that he wore a mask. He grabbed hold of Jen and knocked her out with a swift fist. The ground's bumps and holes made Jen's body shake as the vision of the night sky and the stars slowly blinked out.

When Jen awoke, she found herself in a forest clearing with the being twitching in the corner. Jen looked down at her hand. A circle with a cross through it was carved into her hand, tiny droplets of blood creating it's outline. The being walked over to her with a knife.

"You were a fool to have come out into my domain." the being hissed.

Jen looked at him with a face etched with sarcasm.

"But you brought me here in the first place, impostor." she responded lazily.

The being's face grew red with rage. He started clawing at his own mask, ripping holes in it from his long, uncut fingernails, revealing two lifeless eyes staring at her from behind the cloth.

"YOU SCUM! I AM THE SLENDERMAN! THE FOOL WHO DEFIES ME SHALL DIE, AND TONIGHT IT SHALL BE YOU! Slowly, painfully, your screams will echo off the trees and into the ears of those who do not heed my warning..." he shouted, his voice breaking every few words.

The impostor threw Jen up against a tree, with one hand grasped around Jen's throat. The other hand was reaching for his knife, which he picked up and held towards Jen's eyes. He threatened to pluck out one of her eyes, then use that very same knife to rip out her innards and hang them around the forest trees. Jen slowly rested her head back onto the tree to accept her fate. She could've sworn she saw Slenderman moving towards her at lightning speed. Suddenly, the grip from her throat was removed, allowing Jen to gasp for breath. She heard a loud thump, startling her. She turned around to find Slenderman pinning the impostor to a tree. The impostor showed no signs of fear as he cackled in Slenderman's blank face.

"HA! You're an impostor! No one can defeat the Slenderman!" The impostor spat at Slenderman while trying to wriggle free.

"_You're right. Nobody can defeat the Slenderman."_

Slenderman grew to impossible heights. Estimating about seventeen feet, his elongated hand was kept wrapped around the impostor's throat. He swung the fake back. The Slenderman then took in a breath.

"_You defile my name. You attempt to usurp my position. You come into my forest and claim it yours. And you take what is mine and threaten to kill her. YOU ARE THE SCUM, YOU ARE THE LOWEST OF HUMANS, LOWER THAN DIRT! DEATH IS NOT A HARSH ENOUGH PUNISHMENT FOR YOU!"_

Slenderman hurls the impostor forward, slamming him into a tree. A raw scream of pain bounces around the forest and straight into Jen's ears. The splinters from the tree are scattered all around the clearing as the impostor is slammed, over and over, the wrath of Slenderman's rage. His tendrils emerge and wildly whip around him. The uncountable amount of tendrils soon spiral toward the impostor, his blood raining down onto the grass as parts of his body are thrown far and wide. Only his head, still wearing the mask, remained.

Jen could barely believe what she had witnessed. Slenderman returned to his height of eleven feet and apologised about what Jen had to see. She shakily crept towards the head. She was suddenly filled with a great rage. She picked up a nearby stick and started to beat the bloodied head of the killer of her two brothers. She couldn't stop as she started to laugh manically. A tendril took hold of her bloody stick as she regained her sanity. The Slenderman stared at her.

"_Enough."_

Jen looked at her hands, covered with the blood of the former impostor. She collapsed to her knees, her chest heaving with loud sobs. A tendril was placed on her shoulder and the sobs started to fade away.

"_Return home, finish what you ventured out here for, then return home as quickly as you can. You dropped your currency." _

Jen went to wash her hands in a local creek. Slenderman handed her a piece of paper then vanished. She looked down at the paper as she walked out of the forest and back onto the main road, lit up with a glowing seven.

It was a $20 note.


	7. Chapter 7: SomethingAwful Forums

**This chapter has some strong language, for those who are a little worried about that sort of thing. ^^'**

"Jen," Lily whispered into her ear, "You have school today."

Her eyes widened with surprise as she abruptly rose from her sheets and blankets, knocking heads with aunt Lily. After a few seconds of hearing nothing but groans of pain from the both of them, Jen sluggishly slid out of bed and looked out the window.

Nothing.

Jen dropped out of school when her parents went missing, to look for work to help support her brothers. Her friends slowly grew apart from her and Jen eventually lost contact with all of them. She was all alone in an unfamiliar school. It seems that aunt Lily had organised for her to try and fit back into a normal environment again.

It was a chilly morning as Jen waited at the bus stop to come pick her up. Unusually, she felt nobody watching her that morning. The bus creakily came to a halt, the door opening to her as she stepped inside to find a nearly empty bus.

"What's wrong?" the driver chuckled, "Never been on a bus before?"

Jen looked at him with weary eyes.

"It's so empty."

"Yeah, you're one of the first stops, it'll fill up eventually. You new?"

Jen nodded before picking a seat up the back to curl up in.

One by one, the bus slowly started to get busier, and noiser. Jen kept her eyes glued out the window, looking for something on the side of the road in the bushes.

Still nothing.

Jen was startled by a sharp voice, coming from the aisle.

"Excuse me, you're in my spot."

Jen froze and slowly turned up to look at the figure. She saw a fairly thin girl who looked just a bit younger than her. The girl's freckled face was caked with makeup which started to flake away as she chewed the gum in her mouth. Her short, choppy hair was dyed a bright red, contrasting the green in her eyes. A single, blonde streak was the only relief from the eye-sore red of her hair. After a few seconds of silence, the girl grew impatient.

"Can you hear me, bitch? You're in my spot!" she spat at Jen.

Jen silently rose from the girl's apparent seat and moved to try and find another empty space. The girl then turned around and kick Jen to the floor of the aisle.

"If you piss me off again, you're gonna get your ass kicked a lot harder than that, you little fucker."

Jen found a seat closer to the driver and sat in silence, waiting for the moment she can escape without encountering that girl again. The driver seemed to know exactly what happened up the back, and turned towards Jen at a red light.

"You got kicked out of your seat?" he asked.

Jen nodded. The driver's voice quietened.

"Her name is Marie. Her father has quite a high position in his career, so her family is pretty well off. This seems to make Marie think that she is above everyone else who attends this school with her. That everyone else's lives are lived in poverty, and thinking this means she treats everyone else who isn't sucking up to her like crap. Keep your mouth shut, keep your distance and you should be fine."

Jen spent her time at the seats closest to the windows whenever she was in class, and for a brief moment, the teacher left the room. One of the boys who was with Marie up the back was always surfing the web on his laptop. Then suddenly, he ushered everyone over to his desk in excitement.

"Hey, look what I found! This is awesome! It's called the Slenderman."


	8. Chapter 8: Dare

"The fuck is that?" Marie sneered.

Jen soon remembered.

"GET OFF THAT WEBSITE! TURN OFF THE LAPTOP!" Jen cried.

"And who let you over to this end of the classroom, slut?" Marie said with a sharp sting to her voice, "And why the fuck for?" she added.

"Do you not know anything about the Slenderman?! The more you know about him, the closer he gets to you! I'm trying to save your lives here!"

Marie turned back to the huddled mess around the laptop. "The bitch believes that the scary Slenderman will come to eat us all!" she mocked.

The class laughed menacingly at Jen as she felt herself blush. She looked down at the scar where the fake Slenderman carved the Operator symbol into her hand. She then glanced back at Marie and walked away.

Jen overheard a conversation that was being held just outside the school gates after the final bell had rung.

"I say Jen should go!"

"The new bitch? Perfect."

"But isn't that a little unfair? Making the new girl go?"

"Whose side are you on, you little shit?"

"We should all go."

"What?! I'm not fucking sleeping in some shit-hole of a forest, you dick!"

"It was your idea in the first place to camp out."

A twig underneath Jen's feet gave her position away as it snapped audibly. All heads turned towards her.

"What the fuck are you looking at, you shit-smeared bitch?" Marie snapped.

Jen shook her head and started to walk off.

"Wait a minute...Jen! I have something to ask you. Would you like to come camping with us tonight? You seem to know heaps about this fucking Slenderman you were bitching about today. And we wanna find the fucker."

After much argument, Jen reluctantly agreed.

Jen came home to an empty apartment once again with a note explaining Lily's absence. She packed a few of her things into a backpack and set out to meet Marie.

They had already set up camp in a small clearing. A fire was going and Marie was texting on her phone while the other boys were wrestling in the grass. The moonlight shone through the leaves, yet was outshined by the campfire glow, which seemed to enhance the red of Marie's hair. No sign of life was present in the forest. Not even a cricket was making a sound, as expected in a forest inhabited by such an entity. Jen noticed a pile of papers at Marie's feet. Jen quickly glanced over at them. They all were related to Slenderman.

"Wow, you actually showed up." Marie said with a smirk.

Jen forced a smile in response.

"Now, let's find the fucker."


	9. Chapter 9: Screaming Into the Night

Marie set up a radio as she started to cook some marshmallows over the fire. Jen sat perfectly still as she watched the red-haired girl stuff her face with sweets. A news broadcast started to play on the radio.

_The killer of the two children a week ago has been found dead in a local wooded area. It appears that the man who identified himself as 'the Slenderman', aged 28, was decapitated, yet there are remains of his body found within a 500m radius. Trees have also been damaged from collision, the head also contained splinters. Police are still on the search for the murderer of this man, yet no evidence at all has been left behind._

"Well THIS is a fuckin' joykill." Marie complained as she reached to turn off the radio.

"No! Not yet, I want to listen some more." Jen protested.

"Suit yourself." Marie sighed, lounging on the grass.

_The man was 6.2 feet or 1.88m tall, caucasian with black hair and dark brown eyes. He has been convicted of various other crimes such as theft, arson and attempted kidnapping. His killer is yet to be found. Now onto the weather._

Marie took this as the time to switch the station to one that blared out pop hits. A mediocre rap song started to play. _No wifin' in the club...gimme $20...gimme $20..._ She began to dance around with the boys that accompanied her, until the radio started to malfunction. In her frustration, Marie kicked over the radio and demanded Jen to turn it off. After she did so, the boys said that they were going to go out in a search party.

"Fine, but you better fuckin' come back, you hear?"

An hour passed since the search party set out. Jen and Marie sat in silence the entire time.

They heard a scream coming from within the trees.

"GET YOUR FUCKIN' ASS OFF THE GROUND AND GET YOURSELF GOING!" Marie shouted, springing into action.

She grabbed Jen by the shirt collar and ran at top speed towards the source of the scream. They stopped to find a mutilated body lying next to a blood-covered teenage boy. Marie dove into the bushes for safety and watched the second boy have his insides ripped out by long tendrils...coming from an extremely tall man wearing a suit.

The Slenderman turned around to see Jen running towards the bodies and kneeling beside them.

"_You confuse me. You mourn the ones who torment you. I don't understand."_

Jen turned to face the entity.

"Whether you hate the person or not, it's never pleasant watching your fellow kind die." Jen stammered.

Marie was astounded. How was Jen still alive? How is that...thing, not ripping Jen apart yet? Is she friends with that monster? She was about to find out.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Marie screamed at the top of her voice.

The Slenderman and Jen both turned around to face her.

"Marie..." Jen sighed.

She saw an infuriated and terrified Marie shaking uncontrollably. Her knees, about to give way, were barely holding up the rest of her body. Jen eyed her up and down, the spoiled and selfish Marie she once knew had disappeared into the forest.

"SO YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL US OFF THE ENTIRE TIME, WEREN'T YOU, YOU PSYCHOTIC LITTLE WHORE! YOU COULDN'T HANDLE BEING BENEATH ME, SO YOU HAD TO MURDER ME TO GAIN WHAT I HAVE! MY MONEY! MY LOOKS! MY FRIENDS! YOU...YOU..."

The Slenderman calmly walked over to where Marie was shaking. He bent down to her eye level, her face just inches from his blank white space.

"_You only think of yourself. Your instincts and desires completely revolve around you. You feed off other humans' hard work and claim it as your own right to belittle others who do not have your privileges. You disgusting little worm. I will only say this once."_

Marie could barely breathe as she waited for his final words to her.

"_Get out of my sight."_

She was still was glued to her place.

"_NOW!" _The Slenderman roared.

Marie ran out of the forest as fast as her legs could carry her. Jen turned to face the Slenderman.

"Why didn't you kill her?" she asked.

He folded his arms and gazed into the direction Marie ran.

"_She deserves to have the insanity and paranoia of my presence eat away at her sanity first. I shall kill her slowly and painfully in the future. Now was not the time. By the way, I realised I never knew your name, human."_

__"Oh, really? My name's Jen."


	10. Chapter 10: Follow Me

The bus seemed to be almost eerie without the presence of Marie and her posse that morning. The beams of sunlight shone through the graffitied windows of the school bus, the dust floating gently in the early morning. Jen could hear the whispers of her fellow students.

"Dude, did you hear about Marie?"

"Why would I want to hear about her for?"

"I heard she saw something weird in the forest and now she's locked up in a mental hospital in a strait-jacket!"

"Where did you come up with some bullcrap story like that?"

"I swear I didn't! Marie was spoutin' some crazy shit and got herself locked up!"

"She wont be for long, remember, she has a lot of money."

"You can't bail someone out of a mental hospital, dude."

Jen stopped paying attention and began to bask in the sunlight shining through the windows. For a brief moment, she felt relaxed. The bus suddenly jerked forward and came to a halt. A loud uproar of excitable teenagers were haggling the driver about his driving skills and how various of the boys had slept with his mother. Rolling his eyes, the driver stepped out of the bus to see what had caused it to break down.

While he was outside, the bus grew increasingly rowdy, stories about Marie's deteriorating sanity and how some claim to hear her screams at night filled Jen's ears. Nobody knew that she witnessed the death of those boys alongside Marie. For it is twice now that Jen has looked upon the monstrosity Slenderman can be.

A loud rumble quietened everybody down as the driver climbed back into his seat and put the keys into the ignition. Out of the corner of Jen's eye, she could see a figure watching her from the woods. Smiling as she knew fully well who it was, she gestured a small wave in his general direction. She had grown used to his presence after the past few weeks. Slenderman nodded his head, acknowledging her, and as he was turning back to return to the woods, a yell from behind Jen makes her jump.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?" A girl screeched.

Everybody clambered over to Jen's side of the bus to try and get a glance of this mysterious figure. Jen found herself pressed up against the window as people fidgeted all around her to try and get a good view. After a few seconds, everyone returned to their seat, disappointed.

Jen kept to herself for the rest of the trip.

After an unusually quiet day at school, Jen lugged her books on her back and decided to stop by a local cafe for a coffee to relax with. After swallowing her last sip, she paid the bill and continued her trip back home. To her surprise, aunt Lily was waiting for her.

"I'm home today! We should do something special to commemorate, hm?" she beamed.

Jen gave Lily a small smile and nodded in agreement.

After a night of watching a Disney movie marathon, Lily decided to go to bed a little earlier to recover from the jet lag of her business trips, leaving Jen in the living room alone. She saw this as an opportunity for some late night gaming. Jen finally managed to get her aunt's N64 working after half an hour of untangling wires. She played for an hour before giving up on an especially difficult boss and packed the console away into its box.

Jen thought she might pay a visit to her 'friend' in the forest, although she wasn't sure how he felt – if he had feelings – about her. He had become a part of her life, a background figure watching her movements, like she was his guinea pig. She didn't particularly mind though.

After packing a few snacks to ease her hunger along the way, she silently closed the front door, under the watchful eye of aunt Lily. She knew Jen was up to something and she was about to find out what it was.

Lily crept out of the front door and started to follow Jen from a distance. Soon after, she found herself staring at the entrance of a forest.


	11. Chapter 11: Investigation

The twigs snapped and cracked as Jen trudged completely unafraid through the forest, having made this trip numerous times. She was feeling quite confident, yet she felt watched, but Jen had grown accustomed to this feeling for quite a while now. Aunt Lily followed behind not long after her. Lily's body was violently shaking with fear, wondering how Jen could easily walk through a forest and not be scared. Her palms were sweating and her heart was racing faster than she had ever felt it beat before.

Jen calmly observed her surroundings before quietly calling out to see if her friend was anywhere to be found. Aunt Lily was growing weary of the trudging and sat down on a log to catch her breath.

"Hey," Jen whispered, "You there?"

A tendril wrapped around Jen's waist and gently lifted her up to meet eye to eye with Slenderman, currently perching in a tree. In the time aunt Lily looked down and back again, Jen was gone.

"_You're awfully trusting, Jen. You realise I could kill you within seconds." _He muttered.

It sent a shiver down her spine hearing the Slenderman mention her name.

"That's nice, mind if you put me down?"

Slenderman placed Jen on the branch beside him.

"You sure this won't break?" Jen asked, worried about the thickness of the branch.

"_I've never had to worry about such things before. But even if it does, I won't let you fall. I'm not letting you die so easily yet."_

Jen wasn't sure whether to be relieved or scared. He never did guarantee that he would let her live for a long time.

"_So what brings you out here at this time of night?"_

"You know what? That's a really good question. I guess I just felt like visiting you, having a nice chat or something, I don't know."

"_How mundane."_

Jen playfully nudged Slenderman while he threw her an annoyed look.

"_Come with me, we'll take a walk."_

Slenderman's legs stretched down to the ground to ease his descent. He wrapped his tendrils around Jen's waist and carefully lifted her out of the tree and placed her on his back. She wrapped her hands around his neck and he started walking with Jen enjoying a piggyback ride. Her hands were tense as her survival instincts kicked in as soon as she saw how high she was from the ground.

"_Relax. I won't let you fall."_

She soon grew sleepy as she rested her head on Slenderman's shoulder. After about fifteen minutes, Jen was gently nudged awake.

"_It would be most polite if you stayed awake."_

"Sorry."

Aunt Lily was listening intently for any sounds of footsteps. Not too far away, she heard somebody strolling across the forest trail. She silently followed to investigate.

Lily picked up the sound of voices, one of them was definitely Jen's. After a few minutes of walking, she finally caught sight of Jen on somebody's back. She thought she would sneak up behind this figure and scare the living daylights out of him.

"JEN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE SO-" Lily was about to shout.

Then stopped.

She realised...nobody is that tall.

Slenderman was startled. His instincts took over as tendrils shot out like spikes from his back. Jen remained unharmed miraculously as she fell from his back in shock.

Lily was not so lucky.


	12. Chapter 12: Weep, My Child

The blood spraying from Lily's abdominals were coating the forest trees in a deep, sticky red. Slenderman realised that the weight on his back was no longer holding him down, Jen was falling. He turned around and caught her by hanging onto her waist with his pale hands. The next thing Jen saw, was her mutilated aunt. Her blood ran ice cold as she opened her mouth, and released the most blood curdling scream Slenderman has heard in a long, long time.

"LILY!" Jen screamed.

Wriggling free from Slenderman's somewhat weak grip, she grabbed Lily's shoulders and attempted to heave her out of the forest, tears streaming down her already tired eyes, but her new found strength sourced from adrenaline didn't get her far over the bumpy trail.

"LILY...I'LL GET YOU...TO HOSPITAL...YOU'LL BE...OKAY...I-"

Jen paused and remembered she was not alone. She slowly turned to face the Slenderman, observing her not so far away. He was different, he almost looked remorseful.

"_It's too late for her, I'm afraid. No one has survived an encounter with me, whether her death be accidental or not." _He sighed, with a tinge of guilt to his oddly smooth voice. _"Your aunt, yes?"_ He continued.

Jen nodded weakly. She finally came back to her senses. She remembered just who she is with. This is the Slenderman.

She found a new surge of strength and bolted out of the forest as fast as she could. Slenderman understood that he would have to take care of yet another body to ensure her innocence. He sighed and got to work, yet he didn't finish the job of tearing her apart, he lifted Lily's body up and went to the Western end of the forest, where the only tree which grew flowers was located.

As Jen slowly recovered, she was more careful than ever, some could classify this carefulness as paranoia. She could feel somebody watching her, someone far more sinister than her background figure, Slenderman. Even if he was keeping his eye on her, she was still filled with fear, knowing how easily he could kill her just like aunt Lily. But this new figure was slowly sapping away at Jen's very sanity.

For days, Jen didn't leave the apartment. Phone calls were missed, doors weren't answered, and people assumed that the apartment had been abandoned, so the council decided to leave the building to the squatters and push it out of their sights. Surprisingly enough, the water was not cut off, yet the electricity was shut down. Jen was the only one who resided there.

Alone in the darkness of Lily's former bedroom, she only rose from her position to use the bathroom or nibble on the food supply hoarded by her before she secluded herself. She occasionally peeked out the window, only to see a shadowy figure watching her from across the road, the twilight casting the shadows over its face, making it unidentifiable. At about 10:57pm that same night. Jen heard a sound on the window.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Through a sliver in the curtains, Jen could see a pale, blank face staring at her through the gap. Jen immediately sprinted for the closet, hiding in a cardboard box used for Lily's old TV, and Jen covered the box with Lily's old clothes as an attempt to conceal herself. Then she waited for her visitor to find her.

The Slenderman appeared in the bedroom and made his way over to the closet. He quietly opened the door, brushed the clothes off the box and lifted up the lid to see a violently shaking Jen curled up inside.

"_I'm not entirely sure whether I expected that reaction or not." _

Jen calmed down and remembered that he made a vow to not bring harm to her. Her fear melted away for Slenderman yet the paranoia caused by this new figure was eating away at her. Not fully aware of her actions, she leapt out of her box and straight into Slenderman's arms, and wept.

"_Hm? This is unusual for you."_

Jen told Slenderman of the new figure following her. He listened intently.

"_Is the figure still out there now?"_

"I don't think so."

The Slenderman remained completely still observing Jen while he waited for her to calm down. She suddenly realised the show she was putting on in front of him. She pushed herself away from him and wiped her eyes. Slenderman laughed.

"_Came back to your senses, did you?"_

Jen nodded embarrassingly.

"_I must leave. Do not fear. This figure can't be too far away. I will find it."_

Slenderman left.

Jen's fear had completely melted away, she was confident enough to leave the apartment for the first time in days. She went down to the 7/11 to get some comfort food when she noticed the figure melting away into the forest. Jen called after it and gave chase, not thinking about what she was doing. She soon found herself face to face with the mysterious figure. The moon finally shed light onto...her. Jen gasped as she saw her face.

It was Marie.


	13. Chapter 13: Old Flames

The Marie Jen had known had once again disappeared from her memories as she stared at the ravaged girl in front of her. The choppy, blinding red hair had faded to a light orange, the blonde streak barely visible amongst the frizzy mess she allowed her hair to become. Jen almost didn't recognise Marie, as there wasn't a spot of make up left on her freckled face, leaving them all exposed for everyone to see. The usual sharp look in her eyes had been long abandoned, replaced by the dull, lifeless eyes of someone taken over by insanity and rage. Marie's mouth curled up into a wide grin, exposing yellowed teeth, whittled away by endless grinding.

"Sup, bitch. Miss me?"

The hairs on the back of Jen's neck stood up tall as a shiver trickled down her spine.

"H-how did you get out of the asylum?" Jen stuttered, "I thought y-y-ou were locked up for good."

"Money can do a lot of fuckin' things. My precious fuckin' daddy bailed me out for a shit-tonne of cash. Then for some weird-ass reaon, I fuckin' ran for it. God knows why now. Then I fouuunnd yah, about to get onto the school bus one morning." Marie giggled.

Jen reflected back to the conversation about Marie on the school bus that morning.

"After, I thought I kept seein' weird shit which looked like your...your..." Marie started to say. The image of the Slenderman flashed back to her, her eyes burned with the flames of fury.

Marie extended her arm to reveal a small pocket knife concealed underneath the loose ends of her strait-jacket. The blade flicked open, revealing the sharp edge to already have bloodstains on them. Then she ran blade first towards Jen at an incredible speed. She held Jen against an already damaged tree. She lifted up her knife arm, and started slashing Jen's face.

"DIE YOU FUCKER, YOU USELESS, CUM SWALLOWING, DICK SUCKING WHORE! YOU FUCKIN' RUINED MY LIFE, YOU WORTHLESS BITCH!"

Jen's screams echoed throughout the empty forest, no person in sight, not even a cricket was chirping. The knife had slashed all parts of her body, through the fabric of her clothes straight into her flesh the cuts running deep. As the blood streamed down her face, it mixed with her tears as Marie was about to deliver the final slash, aiming for Jen's blood-stained neck.

"This is where it all ends for yah." Marie sneered.

Just inches away from her face, Marie spontaneously released the most chilling scream to ever fall upon Jen's ears. With all her strength, she turned around to find the Slenderman staring straight into her soul. Marie clung onto her knife tighter than ever, causing cramps in her hand. Despite the pain, she never released her grip on the knife as she was both terrified and ready for a fight.

Slenderman's gaze slowly moved over to Jen's bloody face.

He curled his hands up into shaking balls of fists, his entire body shivering with rage. He hunched over bringing his fists to his blank face, his fingers slowly stretching out from their ball.

"_How..."_

Both Jen and Marie froze in horror.

"_Dare..."_

Marie took a few steps back.

"_YOU?!"_

A thousand, whipping tendrils protruded from his back in a fit of rage. A spine-rocking roar sourced from Slenderman's furious figure was the starting signal for Marie to run for her life. Never has she ever ran faster in her years on earth. Slenderman wasn't far behind, and he was catching up extremely fast. He was still in Jen's sights when he caught Marie with a stray tendril.

"_I'm going to enjoy this, little one."_

He carefully slid three tendrils down Marie's throat, choking any screams she was emitting, From her stomach, black, slithery tendrils burst out of her abdominals like worms, spilling organs and blood onto the forest floor, seeping into the ground. The bottom half of Marie's body fell to the floor. The remaining half was thrown onto a tree at full force, with Marie still barely conscious, blinded by the pain.

"_You, you disgusting, horrible insect. You deserve to be left here to be devoured by wild animals while your screams are heard by no one."_

With those being the last words Marie ever heard, she laid her head back to rest. Her eyes were still open as she slipped into the hands of death.

"Hey...thank you...for..." Jen started to whisper with a smile.

Slenderman strided over to Jen's slashed body and crouched down. He placed a pale finger over her lips, silencing her.

Jen quietly laughed, and tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

**It's not over yet! The last chapter awaits!**


	14. Chapter 14: Companion

Jen woke up in a hospital bed, the following morning. She was surprised to find herself with various bandages strapped around her body, around her wounds. A nurse walking by discovered she was awake, and entered the room to greet her. She was a fairly old nurse, with her eyes reflecting years of experience, her smile as she walked in was overflowing with kindness when she set her eyes on the injured girl.

"Hello dear, how are you feeling?" she smiled.

Jen smiled back to the nurse. "Alright, thank you." she lied.

All the cuts were equally screaming out in pain to her, Jen could barely keep a straight face as she tried not to wince in pain, let alone groan or scream.

"Who brought me here?" Jen asked.

"I'm afraid, dearie, we don't know. We found you in here with a letter. What is also surprising is that the hospital bill for you was completely paid for...in $20 notes." the nurse beamed.

Jen let a small laugh slip by her split-open lips.

"May I see the letter?"

"Of course."

The nurse handed her the letter and walked out of the room. The words on the piece of paper, written in beautiful, elongated handwriting, brought tears to Jen's face, making her eyes sting.

_Please take care of her._

As soon as she brought the paper down away from her eyes, Slenderman was staring at her from the back corner of the room. Jen smiled broadly as she saw him standing there motionlessly. With a choked breath, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Can you take me out to the forest, one last time?"

Slenderman lifted her up out of the hospital bed, and placed her on his back. They walked through the trail together in the gorgeous morning sunlight. Jen winced in pain and let out the tinest squeak. Realising the strain on her arms was pulling on her wounds, he lifted Jen off his back and place her in his arms, cradling her as he took her to the only tree that grew flowers. He placed Jen down onto the soft grass and he kneeled down beside her.

"Please, put me out of my misery." Jen cried out to him.

Slenderman was taken aback, yet he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement. Jen smiled weakly as she embraced death with open arms. Tendrils slowly emerged from his back and started to sway, entrancing Jen as she gradually started to begin her eternal slumber. She whispered her final words.

"Thank you."

Slenderman remained at Jen's side for days on end. He couldn't bring himself to leave for some odd reason to him.

_I wanted to let you die in the most peaceful way possible. Why, I'll never know._

Slenderman rose from his kneeled position, and placed a flower on Jen's chest.

He could've sworn he saw Jen smile.

**That's all! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they really meant so much to me, especially since this was my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**- Starshot151 :)**


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